The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-10-06
LENHIRIT Al


Hon. J. H. George, Jackson, Miss -
Esteemed Sir: Seeing in III CLARION
that YOU were requested to furnish the
law and the facts in regard to the State
Colleges, my interest in the Girls Col
lege at Columbus prompts me to write
this letter to you.
A State College for white girls was
first agitated in Mississippi about the
wear 1879. The late Senator r. Q. Rey
nods introduced the first "bill' for such
an institution in the Legislature Of Mis-
sissippi (see Senate Journal 1880, PIP. 279
and 352). In 1881 the Fusion" party
put plank in their platform favoring
State College for white girls, and in
August, the same year, the Democratic
Convention adopted a resolution decIar
ing it to be "the highest duty OF the
Legislature to establish, with an ample
endowment, State institution for the
education of our daughters" In De-
cember, 1881, the State Grange made It's
first deiverance in favor of a State Col
lege for white girls, which it reiterated
at each subsequent meeting until the
College was established. There was a
demand, then, for a Girls College, not
only by the women of the State, but by
both political parties and the State
Grange-representin all the voters and
tax payers of the State.
The Constitution of the State provides
| for the maintenance of a uniform sys-
TEN of public schools, and says, further,
| that as soon as practicable, the Legisla
| ture shall establish SCHOOLS Of higher
grade" Schools of higher grade were
established in Mississippi for every other
class but white girls, and it was just
that at least one such institution should
be provided for them. There was, and
! is now, no demand for cO-education of
the sexes at the State University. The
establishment of the Industrial Institute
and College by the Legislature of 1884,
not only answered the demand of the
voters and taxpayers and women OF the
State, but it also met the constitutional
requirement of "school of high grade. :"
| 1t is also a normal school, training most
efficient teachers for our public schools,
which, as you know, are largely taught
| by the white women of the State.
The College opened this session with
about four hundred pupils, which would
indicate that the people endorse the in
stitution in the highest manner possible
they send their daughters there to be
educated. The President and Trustees
OF the College are practical men, who
understand the financial condition aud
educational needs of the State. They
! have given US an Institution which meets
/ the approval and hearty commentator
of the best educators in the United
States, aud which has given the State
more character abroad than anything
else within her borders. Although the
institution was opened scarcely two
years ago, it has already widened the
sphere of wOman's usefulness and activ-
| ity. In this and other States young
ladies, trained at the |. |. q c., find en-
plOyment as stenographers, type-writers,
printers, practical dress makers, and
book-keepers Girls who seek such an
education as this, are those who need
and expect to earn their own living, and
not the daughters of the wealthy men of
the State.
Yet the Industrial College has its en-
emies, and there are those who insist
that this school should be abolished"
They groan about the burdens of taxa
ton (this is the cry of the demagOgue)
when the payers themselves created
| the school.
1t has been ascertained that the man
who pays taxes on one thousand dollars